An Outside Perspective: Conor Daly and Jordan Taylor Break Down COTA

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Cody Williams

Cody Williams is the author of BUNNY BOY, THE FIFTH LINE, and THE LEGEND OF GROOVY HOLLOW. He lives near Bristol, TN.
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The road course ringers rehash their weekend at COTA

What’s Happening?

Following a challenging weekend at COTA, INDYCAR Veteran, Conor Daly, met up with IMSA Ace, Jordan Taylor on his podcast this week. The two of them talked about a variety of things (including INDYCAR’s upcoming double-header with the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series this weekend in Texas) but a sizable bulk of their discussion was about the race weekend at Circuit of the Americas and the unexpected challenges that came with it.

You Need To Know:

  • This past weekend at COTA was, what many consider, the return of the road course ringers. It was a blast from the past–the days of Boris Said, Ron Fellows, and Jacques Villeneuve–where drivers from road or street course-centric series test their abilities against the greatest stock car drivers in the world. As the typical NASCAR driver evolved and road courses became a more important mainstay on the Cup Series schedule, the need for a “ringer” by a struggling team just looking for a respectable finish dwindled. But on Sunday, the already stacked Cup Series field was graced with the presence of two Formula 1 World Champions (Jenson Button and Kimi Raikkonen), an IMSA Champion (Jordan Taylor), and an INDYCAR ace (podcast co-host Conor Daly).
  • While excitement was certainly in the air for many to see this world-class athletes to compete along side these heroes of stock car auto racing, it would be a stretch to say any of these individuals had a “good” day. Podcast host of Speed Street (by Dirty Mo Media), Conor Daly recorded a DNF, finishing in the 36th position. Meanwhile, the guest of this episode of Speed Street, Jordan Taylor finished the race battered amid all the calamity in the 24th spot. In the podcast below, the two of them discuss their experiences.
  • Fans were excited to see some outside talent step into the bullring with NASCAR’s best. While some were disappointed with the drivers’ performances, the real discussion being had on Twitter, Reddit, and other social media outlets was the “overly aggressive” driving. Fans will be happy to know that Conor Daly and Jordan Taylor discuss just that in this podcast interview.

When I think about NASCAR racing I think about the bump and run, door-to-door racing, not like smashing.

Jordan Taylor, Speed Street Podcast

The first thing this duo discusses in the podcast is just how wild the NextGen cars drive. One even commented that he felt like he was “holding on for dear life” in the opening laps of practice. It’s clear that in this sense, they have to respect what these drivers who race these cars week in and week out can do with them. Furthermore, they also commented on just how durable the cars.

Jordan Taylor said he felt like he was getting hit harder than he ever has before and thought that for sure the car had to be falling apart. In reality, it only had a scratch down the side. The conversation then moved on to the aggressive driver.

The two were in agreement about how ridiculous the racing got, especially towards the end. Conor Daly pointed out that Denny Hamlin made the comment on his podcast, Actions Detrimental, that Jordan Taylor hit almost everything in sight. Taylor corrected the record. Starting fourth, Taylor fell quickly through the field from being constantly “used up”.

After a while, the appeal of racing cleanly just wasn’t there so he started to punch back. Taylor also commented that when it comes to NASCAR, the first thing he thinks of is the bump-and-run, door-to-door racing, not the “smashing” that occurred during Sunday’s race.

The two then went on to give the opinion that if the racing could be cleaned up just a little, there could be great side-by-side, hard racing in the NextGen car at COTA. The guys just need to give each other a little more room. Another interesting part of the podcast was when Jordan Taylor compared his usual race routine in IMSA to NASCAR, stating that it was nonstop and he barely even had time to go to the bathroom. It was nonstop pablicity commitments from the time he got up that morning to the drop of the green flag. And then there was, you know, the race itself followed by all the post-race rituals.

The Main Characters

Conor Daly and Jordan Taylor are obviously the main characters here. Below is a short snippet from the podcast of Taylor light-heartedly defending himself from Denny Hamlin’s accusation that he was “out there hitting people”.

Here is Conor Daly before the racing, listing his expectations for the weekend.

Front Stretch caught up with Jordan Taylor after the race. Here is his initial reaction. Seems like his opinion hasn’t changed much.

Around The Garage

Dale Earnhardt Jr. stated that he would love to see outsiders come back and race in the sport…he just wasn’t too fond of some of them bad mouthing his “mama” in NASCAR.

Here is the original clip where Denny Hamlin on his podcast accused even Jordan Taylor of being overly aggressive.

In addition to his tiresome day at COTA, Jordan Taylor has been a busy man this week as he was also the guest on Corey LaJoie’s podcast, Stacking Pennies.

As per Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports, Jordan Taylor and Jenson Button had some words comparing their NASCAR experiences.

In The Stands

Amy_712 seemed to really enjoy her experience listening to the conversation.

trorvette calls Denny a “hack” and dismisses his opinion about the driver.

From The Pressbox

It’s always interesting to hear from the point of view of others. This is just two outsiders perspectives. What’s yours? Do you agree or disagree with their commentary? Let us know! And stay turned to the Daily Downforce heading into Richmond and Texas this weekend! We’ve all your racing news and much more.

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Cody Williams

Cody Williams is the author of BUNNY BOY, THE FIFTH LINE, and THE LEGEND OF GROOVY HOLLOW. He lives near Bristol, TN.
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